Gay characters began appearing on American TV screens as early as the 1970s, but their stories didn’t become common until the 2000s. For our 2026 Pride special we look back at the most iconic queer TV series of the past.

MTV basically invented the reality-TV genre with its groundbreaking documentary series "The Real World" in 1992. The show would go on for several dozen seasons, each following a different group of strangers in a different city, to see what happens when they stopped being polite and started getting real. While "The Real World" ended in 2019, it has potent nostalgia for both Gen X and Millennials. So we want to look back on the long-running, genre-defining show and determine the best cast.

Have your say on which television topics we cover in future seasons of the podcast.